By Rebekah Young
If you worshiped with us at St. Luke – Ann Arbor this weekend, you may remember the VBS team that was commissioned during service. A small group of us will be heading to Mexican Town in Detroit the week after Easter to partner with Pan de Vida Lutheran Church and serve the community with a VBS program.
As our team prepares—developing our curriculum, learning about Biblical story telling, brainstorming craft ideas—our excitement for the trip is increasing, and we’d like to share a bit about what we’ll be doing at Pan de Vida in hopes that you’ll continue to support us with your prayers as we prepare and even as we go.
Our theme for the VBS week is God Uses Ordinary People to Do His Work. And our theme verse, a personal favorite of mine, is 2 Corinthians 12:9—But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
We wanted to pick a theme that the kids (1st–6th graders) could relate to, and since it’s easy for a child to feel ordinary or even insignificant, we hope that our theme and verse will be an encouragement to them as they discover that God can use anyone, and, in fact, His power is seen most clearly in those of us who are weak and inadequate.
His power is seen most clearly in those of us who are weak and inadequate.
Each day, we’ll be focusing our activities on a story from the Bible. The stories we’ve picked are about characters who, despite weaknesses, are used by God. We’ve been learning about “Biblical Storying,” a method of story telling that trusts in the power of the story by itself. We won’t be adding our own commentary or imposing any changes (other than making language more conversational at the children’s level and abbreviating the stories where necessary).
Instead, we’ll simply be relaying the stories as they come to us in Scripture. We will, however, be retelling these stories in small groups and encouraging children to tell the stories to three people after they leave VBS.
These are the stories / characters we’ll be learning about at VBS:
- Joseph despite all many obstacles, fulfills God’s plan to save his family (Genesis 37–46).
- Gideon, a fearful Israelite, is used by God to lead a small army of unequipped men to defeat the Midianites (Judges 6–8).
- Josiah becomes king at age 8, and the Lord uses this young king to restore His law to Judah (2 Kings 22–23).
- The servant girl of Naaman shows her faith when she suggests that her master, who is ill with leprosy go to see Elisha, a prophet who can help (2 Kings 5).
- Friends of a paralytic, in faith, lower their friend through a roof so that Jesus may heal him (Matthew 9).
As I think about our theme and our stories, I hope that the same truth we’re trying to convey to these children will be true of our team. I am no longer a child, but often I feel weak or unequipped to do God’s work. My prayer is that at VBS and throughout my life God would use me—an ordinary, weak, inadequate person—to do His work.
My prayer is that at VBS and throughout my life God would use me—an ordinary, weak, inadequate person—to do His work.
On Sunday, we took up a door offering at St. Luke – Ann Arbor to help fund our trip. If you missed the offering, there is still opportunity to give. Just visit the St. Luke Giving page and designate MOST: Mexican Town VBS (Detroit). We greatly appreciate your support and, as always, covet your prayers for the Lord’s work to be done as we serve at Pan de Vida.
